Six Ideas to help you Get Ready for Your First Ultra Marathon

People already think you're crazy for running marathons, and now you tell them you want to run an ultra. An ultra marathon is defined as anything longer than a marathon, although many ultra runners would argue the distance starts at 50K. 1) Do Back to back long runs, estimate your time for finishing the ultra and build up to running those total hours over two days. You want to run the full distance (combining back-to-back days) at least three or four times before the race. 2) Practice your nutrition during training and find out what works best for you. Start drinking before you get thirsty. 3) Practice running efficiently, with as little wasted motion as possible. Try to keep your head as still as possible and raise your feet as little as necessary. However, if the trail is extremely technical, it may be necessary to raise your feet quite a bit to avoid stumbling and tripping. Try to always run quietly. 4) Find socks, clothes and shoes that you love for training and racing. You want to be comfortable.   5) Train on the terrain you'll be racing. If it's a hilly technical trail, train on hilly technical trails. If it's a flat ultra on pavement, train on that at least some of the time. Do a 10K tempo run once a week at a faster pace. Run hills once a week to get strong. 6) If you need them, take recovery days. A typical week could be: Monday - Off Tuesday - 10K tempo Wednesday - Off Thursday - 1 hour hill workout Friday - Off Saturday - 3 hour long run Sunday - 3 hour long run (or a four hour and two hour, or five hour and one hour) Let's say your ultra is at the end of June. You want to be able to run your distance, over two days, by the end of April. Give yourself time to work up to that.   Be sure to enter early, many of the best ultras sell out fast.  One Ultra coming up is the Thailand Ultramarathon set for Nov 17th. 

posted Friday October 5th